Equities sustain gaining streak with N39bn

The local bourse gained for the third straight session, as the market value advanced by 0.3 per cent on Tuesday following rallies in the shares of some 23 tickers.

Market’s benchmark index, the All-Share Index (ASI) added 75.82 points to close at 24,841.94 basis points while investors recouped N39 billion on market capitalization to close the session at N12.959 trillion.

Pertinently, the performance was driven by buying sentiments across the shares of Nigerian Breweries and SEPLAT which gained by 3.2 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively alongside some Tier-1 bank stocks.

Consequent of the day’s gains, the Month-to-Date (MtD) gain increased to 0.6 per cent while Year-to-Date (YtD) loss moderated to -7.5 per cent.

All sector indices closed in green, save for the industrial goods index’s 0.03 per cent decline. The Insurance, banking, oil and gas, and consumer goods indices gained by 2.3 per cent, 1.6 per cent, 0.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.

While market breadth closed positive with emergence of 23 gainers against 10 decliners and eight other that closed flat, market turnover was mixed as traded volume shrank by 17.2 per cent but the value of traded climbed up by 11.5 per cent relative to the previous session.

In order of appearance, SEPLAT topped gainers with N10.80 profit to close at N321 per share followed by Nigerian Breweries with N1 gain to end the session at N32.

Flourmill added N0.75 to close at N19.50 per share. Zenith bank appreciated in share price by N0.60 to close at N16.95 while UACN followed suit with N0.55 gain to close at N6.85 per share.

On the other hand, Total plc topped decliners’ chart as it shed the highest value of N8.70 to close at N79.10 per share. CAP Plc lost N1.7 to close at N15.4 per share and ARDOVA plunged by N1.3 to close at N12.15 per share.

Other decliners include Unilever and Glaxosmithkline, losing N1.05 and N0.45 to close at N11.2 and N4.85 per share respectively.

While the Nigerian Breweries led the value turnover for the session by trading 8.872 million shares valued at N283.821 million in 51 transactions, Transacorp emerged as investors favourite by volume of trade as it pushed 13.544 million shares worth N8.078 million in 84 deals.